Chavez sits, Crosby to play third today

Plenty of tidbits to share on a sunny-yet-breezy Monday morning at Phoenix Muni.

For today’s game against the Angels, A’s infielder Bobby Crosby will start at third base for the first time after Eric Chavez experienced some pain in his right shoulder during an at-bat yesterday against Cleveland. Chavez was supposed to play third for the first time this spring today but A’s manager Bob Geren said he’ll give the multiple Gold Glove winner an undetermined amount of time off to let the shoulder calm down.

As for Crosby, Geren had said Sunday that he would wait until coach Mike Gallego said Crosby was ready to play another position before he inserted him in a game. That time is now, I guess. But the A’s want Crosby to learn all four infield positions, especially second base, where the team is a little thin right now. Plus, Geren said, second base takes a bit longer to learn.

At the moment, Crosby is playing third during batting practice.

Of course, this may lead to speculation that the A’s are trying to show Crosby off at third so that the Yankees, who are without A-Rod for the next 6-9 weeks, may be interested in a trade. Geren wasn’t biting when asked about that, though.

The A’s also have 53 players in camp right now after 11 roster moves were announced Monday. P Jeff Gray was optioned to Sacramento. Pitchers Brett Hunter, Jared Lansford, Arnold Leon, Tyson Ross, catcher Josh Donaldson and infielders Tagg Bozied, Adrian Cardenas, Chris Carter, Yung-Chi Chen and Jemile Weeks, all non-roster invitees, were assigned to the organization’s minor league camp.